New Zealand First Archive

• 

  A ship leaving a sinking rat? - by frog

  
  
  
  Russel’s reiteration of the Greens long-standing position on the Winston Peters scandals – that the Greens would probably not be able to sit at a cabinet table with Peters unless everything was cleared up – seems to have got a lot more media coverage this time around than previously. And Helen Clark seems to have [...] read more
  November 4, 2008 10:11 am - 7 Comments
• 

  Peters donations scandal gets deeper - by frog

  
  
  
  The most compelling part of Phil Kitchin’s Dominion Post story about Winston Peters and the Velas is the three paragraphs at the very end: A box of documents sent to the newspaper this week shows that Vela interests made donations to NZ First as early as 1999. Mr Meurant suggested to Mr Vela that this [...] read more
  November 1, 2008 9:57 am - 133 Comments
• 

  Accountancy and accountability - by frog

  
  
  
  Did everyone enjoy the brief interlude in the election campaign where we got to talk about issues other than Winston Peters and his unusual accountancy systems?  (Maybe Jim Bolger was on to something when he made him treasurer, given his ability to run a party on no declared donations.) Interestingly Winston’s $80,000 donation from the [...] read more
  October 29, 2008 3:49 pm - 7 Comments
• 

  Attack ads - by frog

  
  
  
  The increasing emergence of US style attack campaigning in recent years (John and John, Taxathon etc) is disappointing. Mr Carson, who came up with Labour’s “Keep it Kiwi” and “This one’s about trust” campaigns, says the key to advertising a political party is to pit yourself against your opposition. In the commercial world, you want [...] read more
  October 29, 2008 11:54 am - 4 Comments
• 

  Dunne adds his head to the National monster - by frog

  
  
  
  United Future has followed the Greens in assessing the two old parties policy platforms and letting voters know before the election which one it will be supporting.  It’s a bit harder to tell from it’s media release exactly what policies it based  this decision on, but I guess we know from past practice one issue [...] read more
  October 27, 2008 9:17 am - 39 Comments
• 

  Clark’s poor advice - by frog

  
  
  
  Even if voters’ choice were simply a Labour-led government or a National-led government Helen Clark’s ‘advice‘ yesterday would be patently false given the Greens’ preference announcement last week: When she was asked at a meeting with Foodstuffs workers if they should vote strategically to ensure a Labour coalition, she said the best way was to [...] read more
  October 25, 2008 8:17 am - 13 Comments
• 

  An immigrant woman’s paradise - by frog

  
  
  
  There was an odd story from the Herald today on an immigration debate in Auckland. Keith was at the debate and was one of the most vocal speakers there, outlining the Green’s strong human rights stance on immigration. Yet he got no mention at all in the article that found space to note the attendance [...] read more
  September 29, 2008 9:52 pm - 57 Comments
• 

  Who will it be? - by frog

  
  
  
  Triennially the question goes on to all the MMP parties: So who’s it going to be, who will you go with? This time, with the exception of the Maori Party, we pretty much know the answer, or will know the answer before the election for all of them.   But what we don’t know is [...] read more
  September 25, 2008 8:29 am - 53 Comments
• 

  The Privileges Committee vote - by frog

  
  
  
  Well I’m pleased and grateful to admit that I was wrong and the Privileges Committee did find against Winston Peters.  I only saw a portion of the evidence and being a frog rather than lawyer obviously did not weight it properly. It was disappointing to see that the committee voted along party lines.  It would [...] read more
  September 23, 2008 8:37 am - 41 Comments
• 

  An emissions trading subsidy for fishing? - by frog

  
  
  
  The Hive noted on Friday that: The revised [Emissions Trading Scheme] contains an enormous new subsidy for the fishing industry. This was, surprise, surprise negotiated by NZ First… Fish subsidies are the direct cause of over fishing. We are opposed to any subsidisation of this industry. The original ETS has no subsidy going to the [...] read more
  August 31, 2008 4:19 pm - 7 Comments
• 

  What if? - by frog

  
  
  
  I wonder if the Prime Minister is looking back at the quiet issue-focused way the Greens have gone about getting their policy implemented over the last 3 years and is now ruing the choices she made putting together her governing arrangements back in 2005 with Winston Peters’ NZ First Party and Peter Dunne’s Untied Future [...] read more
  August 29, 2008 7:59 am - 34 Comments
• 

  I never would have guessed… - by frog

  
  
  
  From the Herald: New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says his party could form a government with National or Labour after the next election. Do you know that feeling where you sit down to watch a video and suddenly remember, 10 minutes in, that you’ve already seen it before?  Unlike the Greens don’t expect him [...] read more
  June 15, 2008 8:29 pm - 2 Comments
• 

  Beach cricket - by frog

  
  
  
  Dr Cullen’s beach cricket analogy is an interesting one. He told the Labour Party conference over the weekend that Helen Clark and the Labour Party have been batting so long that the New Zealand public thinks that even though she and they are doing a good job it would be only fair if someone else [...] read more
  April 14, 2008 10:46 am - 38 Comments
• 

  Green for election year - by frog

  
  
  
  Guess which party wrote this: “The lakes have become an embarrassment; badly polluted with sewage, nutrient run-off and algal blooms and are no longer the tourist magnets that they have been in the past.  Our ‘clean, green’ image, that we hold so dear, is under threat when we allow this to occur. “We are fortunate [...] read more
  March 26, 2008 1:00 pm - 7 Comments
• 

  Ra Ra Rasputin - by frog

  
  
  
  One of the National Party’s independent media commentators, Richard Long, is in the Dominion Post this morning comparing Winston Peters’ ability to survive to that of Rasputin. Let’s hope that’s the only quality he shares with the Russian mystic. However, it was interesting to note that Long was suggesting a possible parliament after the election [...] read more
  March 18, 2008 2:36 pm - 1 Comment